Twelfth Night or What You Will

29th Jan '10 by Andy

First of all – my experience of Shakespeare is limited – I will admit that from the outset, but I know what I like, and this production of Twelfth Night was outstanding, without a single weak link. Every actor seemed to bring their own to the performance making for a uniquely darkly comic interpretation of this outstanding play. Casting was brilliance for every part but our famous stars were not out of place, instead they were brilliantly placed and brought their own character to the roles; Malvolio couldn’t have been better cast than Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave’s - Victor Meldrew) who was born for the part, and brought his comic persona and facial expressions to some truly hilarious moments. James Fleet (Vicar of Dibley’s - Hugo) played a dim-witted knight in the form of Sir Andrew Aguecheek; bringing real comic relief to even the darkest moment, accompanied by his lack of grasp of the Shakespearian tongue to really nail home the characters ineptness.

However the real star of the show was Feste (Olivia’s Fool) played by Miltos Yerolemou, his singing, dancing and dark comedy shaped the show and brought everything together to form this wonderful piece of theatre. I thoroughly recommend a trip to the Duke of York theatre to check this out, whether you’re a Shakespeare fan or not.

As a side note if you’re after somewhere to stay on a one night stop can I recommend the Arosfa Hotel (it’s small, but extremely friendly and very clean and comfy).

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Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009

23rd Aug '09 by Andy

27 Shows in 6 Days, not a bad count, below is the list of things we saw; this is mostly for my benefit (so I don't forget) :-)
  Andy’s Rating Kate’s Rating
One Man Lord Of The Rings
Exactly what it says on the tin – from the creator of One Man Star Wars comes a take on Lord Of The Rings, and while I imagine Star Wars (a mostly dialogue driven trilogy) was impressive; the Lord Of The Rings (a scenery driven film) lacked something. There was a lot of him humming and trying to illustrate vast expanses of land by flapping his arms. Now don’t get me wrong the whole thing was very impressive, and some moments of comedy gold lay within, however less humming and flapping and more comedy moments would have been even more enjoyable.
John Hegley
A true poetic legend, if you have never read any of John Hegley’s poetry then you really are missing out; and hearing the great man himself reading these sincere peeks into the history of his family, along with his own comic style of performing was a great experience (including playing ukulele on a violin).
Iago
My highlight of the festival which is really odd considering the company is from Bristol, however, this one man take on Othello opened my eyes to what can be done with Shakespeare. The complete story of Othello as seen through the eyes of Iago, as he wrestled over whether or not he was guilty. I really would recommend this if you get the opportunity to see it.
Jon Richardson
A comic walkthrough of the life of a perfectionist and how striving for perfection can systematically destroy everything.
Bongo Cabaret
Well ... what can I say; allow me to summarise, two poor comedians, two ropey burlesque dancers, one terrifying gay man, and an average sketch comedy trio – please avoid!
Your Numbers Up
Youth theatre as it attempts to be both edgy and funny and barely manages either. An hour of character development follwed by the end.
After The Bomb
A truly bizarre trip into the mind of a communist regime; very funny, especially some of the briliant dialogue between communist spies.
Paul Mertons Improv Chums
Paul Merton brings improvised comedy gold to the pleasance theatre, including wrestling on a bus, film genre rotation on a cruise ship and going up mount everest with your mother in law.
Rebecca
 
Terry Pratchett’s Lords & Ladies
Am Dram – nothing else to be said.
Rap Guide To Evolution
Now this is actually what it says - believe it or not. Baba Brinkman brings evolution to life through hip hop, well worth checking out, you can't believe it until you see it.
Cardinio
The lost play of Shakespeare (or an interpretation thereof) brought to life. This lost play was brilliantly executed with a very physical performance, including one poor actor who refused to go to hospital with a broken elbow until he had completed his performance.
East
 
Sound & Fury’s: Sherlock Holmes & The Saline Solution
Slapstick spoof humour over the detective genre by three American's know as Sound & Fury. This farcical comedy while not brilliant was certainly an entertaining evening, and had everyone in fits of laughter.
The origin of species by means of natural selection or the survival of [r]evolutionary theories in the face of scientific and ecclesiastical objections: being a musical comedy about Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)
This musical captures the imagination as the writer/performer/Darwin welcomes everyone to his study and sings various songs about the journey to the galapagos and his theories on evolution, as well as marrying his cousin. This is pure brilliance, check it out - this is an Andy recommendation!
Out Of Chaos
 
Dylan Thomas: Return Journey
Segments of the life of Dylan Thomas from his own eyes through his poems (told by Bob Kingdom). Bob tells the tales with such emotion (and memory) that the audience remained captivated, a personal highlight was the complete telling of The Outing a great story, told so well.
Adam Hills: Inflatable
If you want to feel like the world isn’t so bad after all then go and see Adam Hills, definitely the best comedian at the festival.
Alun Cochrane: Daydreamer
Quite literally Alun Cochrane's stream of consciousness spilling fourth, I'm not sure of how long he's been doing stand up but he seemed unsure of the crowd, constantly telling the back row it was their fault it wan't funny. His observations on life with kids are absolutely hilarious and as long as you can keep up with his daydreaming, then you're on for an enjoyable evening.
Rich Hall’s Campfire Stories
 
News Revue
The years' news in comedy form, while some of the sketches were funny, and the songs - including financial easing (sexual healing) by Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling were hilarious, a lot of the jokes were quite obvious like a re-animated Michael Jackson. However I would still recomend going to see it if you're in the area.
Rhod Gilbert
Angry, Angry, Angry – Now a lot of comedians get aggressive at various trials of life; but I’ve never seen an entire show made up of issues with washing machines / vacuum cleaners. This does not detract from the ability Rhod Gilbert has with his LOUD comic storytelling, well worth checking him out.
Purple Ronnie’s Stand Up Poetry
One Night Only – 1 o’ clock in the morning, and we’re watching Phil Jupitus amongst others reading their own poetry. While Jupitus was a bit rusty at the poetry, others including Luke Wright were very good.
Pythonesque
The story of the Python crew told by Graham Chapman upon his arrival at the pearly gates. Python sketches are used to illustrate key moments in the teams growth, to great success, and the actor to play John Cleese is absolutely spot on along with the rest of the cast who all carry off their comic personas perfectly. The Perfectly Healthy Budgie Skectch (for legal reasons) is one of many moments of genius.
Comedy Bitch
Touted as soon to hit your TV screens any audience can see why, some of the sketches were out and out sketch show genius, including the sitcom house, sock puppet ex-boyfriend and grown up 5 year old. Keep an eye out for this group on your screens before long.
Stewart Lee
The established humour and sustained rants of Stewart Lee mean you will never be dissapointed, however the long long pauses seem to greatly punctuate his performance leaving you wishing that he would get to the point just that bit sooner, especially if you saw it coming 2 minutes ago.
Rich Hall
 

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